BANGOR — A Maine State Police detective trained in cellphone analysis testified Tuesday about calls and text messages between phones belonging to accused murderer Kyle Dube and his alleged victim, Nichole Cable, on Mother’s Day 2013.
Detective Kyle Willette told jurors that Cable sent a text to Dube’s phone and a Facebook message to a person posing as Bryan Butterfield in the hours before she died. Willette said that the person communicating on the Facebook account used the same phone that Dube used to text message Cable.
Dube, 21, of Orono, is accused of using Facebook to lure Cable out of her mother’s home in Glenburn nearly two years ago by using the identity of Butterfield, a boy his girlfriend had dated, then killing the 15-year-old Cable in an abduction gone wrong.
He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and murder in the May 12, 2013, death of the Old Town High School student. He allegedly planned to kidnap the girl, hide her, then find her and play the hero.
On the seventh day of Dube’s trial before a jury of eight men and seven women, including three alternates, Willette went through a series of messages between the phones. He also testified about a phone call and text messages between Dube’s phone and the phone used by his then-girlfriend Sarah Mersinger.
Cable was to meet Butterfield at the end of her road in Glenburn. He told her they would smoke some marijuana and “hang out” for a few minutes. Cable told Dube she was meeting Butterfield.
In her last exchange with Dube at 9:20 p.m. May 12, 2013, she texted: “Is it weird to be a little scared?” He replied: “No. I wouldn’t be.”
Willette also testified about which cell towers the phones used. He said that indicates an area in which a person might be when he or she communicates or accesses data, such as a Facebook page, using a cellphone.
The detective told jurors that calls from Dube’s phone before about 9:30 p.m. used a tower not far from his workplace in Bangor. The calls and text messages to Mersinger between about 10:30 and 11 p.m. used a tower that encompasses the Gilman Falls area in Old Town where Cable’s body was found on May 20, 2013, Willette testified.
Willette’s testimony to the jury was delayed Tuesday after Superior Court Justice Ann Murray agreed with Dube’s defense team that showing Dube’s photo alongside his phone number in the presentation Willette had prepared would be prejudicial. It took about 30 minutes for Dube’s photo to be removed.
Defense attorneys Stephen Smith of Augusta and Wendy Hatch of Waterville have maintained that Mersinger, not Dube, was using his phone on May 12, 2013.
Mersinger testified Monday. She denied creating the fake Facebook page. She also denied “hurting Nichole,” but admitted she was angry because Cable and Dube had a sexual relationship.
Dube’s trial began Feb. 23. It is expected to go to the jury Friday. A second police interview with Dube, in which he denies kidnapping and killing Cable, is expected to be played Wednesday.
If Dube is convicted of murder, he faces between 25 years and life in prison. He is being held without bail.
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